Smuggling Canada

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. said smuggling allegations leveled against it by the Canadian government relate solely to its former international affiliates. Canada on Tuesday filed suit against Winston-Salem, N.C.-based R.J. Reynolds seeking at least $1 billion, claiming the company smuggled cigarettes into the country to undercut a government plan to discourage smoking with high taxes. R.J. Reynolds said the companies at the core of Canada's case--R.J.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. said smuggling allegations leveled against it by the Canadian government relate solely to its former international affiliates. Canada on Tuesday filed suit against Winston-Salem, N.C.-based R.J. Reynolds seeking at least $1 billion, claiming the company smuggled cigarettes into the country to undercut a government plan to discourage smoking with high taxes. R.J. Reynolds said the companies at the core of Canada's case--R.J.

The battle exploded onto the placid streets of suburban North York when metropolitan police here tried to question a 23-year-old man near an after-hours nightclub. The suspect pointed a pistol out of his car window and emptied it at pursuing officers. Then he pulled out a second gun and fired again. None of the officers was hurt. But the incident was seen here by many as evidence of the escalating level of criminal violence in Canada's cities.

The government of Canada sued R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. for $1 billion Tuesday, charging that it and related companies conspired to smuggle tobacco products into Canada to avoid millions of dollars in taxes. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Syracuse, N.Y., alleges the companies set up an elaborate network of smugglers and offshore companies to flood Canada with cheap cigarettes after the government doubled taxes and duties on tobacco in 1991.

Canada launched an offensive against rampant cigarette smuggling by lowering its federal tobacco taxes by at least one-third in a bid to eliminate smugglers' profits. The government also slapped a tax on tobacco exports to further discourage the billion-dollar trade in which duty-free export cigarettes are being smuggled back from the United States by Mohawk natives.

The government of Canada sued R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. for $1 billion Tuesday, charging that it and related companies conspired to smuggle tobacco products into Canada to avoid millions of dollars in taxes. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Syracuse, N.Y., alleges the companies set up an elaborate network of smugglers and offshore companies to flood Canada with cheap cigarettes after the government doubled taxes and duties on tobacco in 1991.

Authorities foiled a plan Saturday to smuggle 264 Asians, mostly members of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka, to Canada aboard a ship, a police spokesman said. Police were looking for a 38-year-old Tamil suspected of organizing the trip, according to spokesman Bernd Metterhausen. The suspect, who was not identified, fled on foot as police closed in on his rented car. He is believed to have arranged a similar passage of Tamils to Canada nearly two years ago, Metterhausen told reporters.

In its biggest crackdown on smuggling over the U.S. border, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it arrested 170 people and seized millions of dollars' worth of contraband liquor and tobacco. The suspects included members of a Montreal-area chapter of Hells Angels, as well as organized crime gangs run by Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants, the force said.

Welcome to Canada, where "cold turkey" has taken on a sensational new meaning for hard-pressed cigarette smokers. The Canadian government has taxed cigarettes to such levels that smokers have lately been known to drive across the border to the United States, buy a turkey, rip out its frozen innards in the supermarket parking lot, stuff the cavity with cheap American loose tobacco, and smuggle the bird back home.

A native Aleut Indian teen-ager who lives in Cypress has gone into hiding, and reportedly has smuggled her 5-month-old daughter to a Canadian family for adoption rather than surrender the child to the Indian tribe. Bertram E. Hirsch, a New York attorney representing the tribe in its fight to place the baby with an Aleut family, said Jodi Argleben, 18, has given little Rebecca to a family in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has gone into hiding to avoid the ensuing tumult.

In its biggest crackdown on smuggling over the U.S. border, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it arrested 170 people and seized millions of dollars' worth of contraband liquor and tobacco. The suspects included members of a Montreal-area chapter of Hells Angels, as well as organized crime gangs run by Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants, the force said.

The battle exploded onto the placid streets of suburban North York when metropolitan police here tried to question a 23-year-old man near an after-hours nightclub. The suspect pointed a pistol out of his car window and emptied it at pursuing officers. Then he pulled out a second gun and fired again. None of the officers was hurt. But the incident was seen here by many as evidence of the escalating level of criminal violence in Canada's cities.

Canada launched an offensive against rampant cigarette smuggling by lowering its federal tobacco taxes by at least one-third in a bid to eliminate smugglers' profits. The government also slapped a tax on tobacco exports to further discourage the billion-dollar trade in which duty-free export cigarettes are being smuggled back from the United States by Mohawk natives.

Welcome to Canada, where "cold turkey" has taken on a sensational new meaning for hard-pressed cigarette smokers. The Canadian government has taxed cigarettes to such levels that smokers have lately been known to drive across the border to the United States, buy a turkey, rip out its frozen innards in the supermarket parking lot, stuff the cavity with cheap American loose tobacco, and smuggle the bird back home.

A native Aleut Indian teen-ager who lives in Cypress has gone into hiding, and reportedly has smuggled her 5-month-old daughter to a Canadian family for adoption rather than surrender the child to the Indian tribe. Bertram E. Hirsch, a New York attorney representing the tribe in its fight to place the baby with an Aleut family, said Jodi Argleben, 18, has given little Rebecca to a family in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has gone into hiding to avoid the ensuing tumult.

Authorities foiled a plan Saturday to smuggle 264 Asians, mostly members of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka, to Canada aboard a ship, a police spokesman said. Police were looking for a 38-year-old Tamil suspected of organizing the trip, according to spokesman Bernd Metterhausen. The suspect, who was not identified, fled on foot as police closed in on his rented car. He is believed to have arranged a similar passage of Tamils to Canada nearly two years ago, Metterhausen told reporters.

The 155 Tamil refugees who were set adrift in two open boats off the Newfoundland coast came from West Germany and not from India as they had claimed in what was part of a smuggling ring masterminded by two Sri Lankans, authorities said Friday. West German police said the two ringleaders were under arrest and confessed that they had the Tamils ferried across the Atlantic in a German-owned, Honduras-registered tramp freighter after charging the Tamils $2,500 each.

Louis DiNatale didn't intend to enter Canada when he and his wife wound up on a bridge from New York state to Ontario province one day in September, misdirected by an unreliable GPS. What began as an American couple's getaway to Vermont quickly turned into a lesson on the stark difference between the U.S. and Canada when it comes to gun laws. DiNatale, whose request to turn around and cross back into the U.S. was denied, then made another mistake. When a border official asked whether he had any weapons, he said no. Then the questions started about guns.

The 155 Tamil refugees who were set adrift in two open boats off the Newfoundland coast came from West Germany and not from India as they had claimed in what was part of a smuggling ring masterminded by two Sri Lankans, authorities said Friday. West German police said the two ringleaders were under arrest and confessed that they had the Tamils ferried across the Atlantic in a German-owned, Honduras-registered tramp freighter after charging the Tamils $2,500 each.